New documentary brings forgotten Holocaust heroine back to life

This article was first published in The Times of Israel.

Ingrid Timkova plays Gisi Fleischmann in the play that Natasha Dudinski filmed for her documentary, ‘Gisi.’ (courtesy of Natasha Dudinski)

The story of Gisi (pronounced Gee-zy) Fleischmann is the stuff legends are made of. Unfortunately the legend of this courageous female leader of a Holocaust rescue group in Bratislava, Slovakia has been largely forgotten

Even Slovakia-born Jews like Israeli filmmaker Natasha Dudinski didn’t know of Fleischmann until a book of her letters was published a few years ago. This recent increased recognition of Fleischmann has led to the staging of an original play about her by the Slovak National Theatre in 2012, the 70th anniversary of the first Nazi transports of Jews from Czechoslovakia.

The play, in turn, spurred Dudinski, 46, to make “Gisi,” a documentary film about Fleischmann, which is set to premiere in Haifa on January 27, International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Screenings in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem will follow later this week.